The Boomerang Life: Returning to TELUS Digital

Culture · Aug 19, 2021

The twists and turns of each of our career journeys can be exciting and sometimes unexpected. One thing’s for sure: it’s an adventure! So when our team members leave us for new opportunities, we are of course sad to see them go, but excited for them as well. Far be it from us to hold someone back from developing themselves. We wish them all the best in all the new things they’ll learn, people they’ll meet, and experiences they’ll accrue.

Sometimes, if we’re very fortunate, they come back to work with us. The common reasons for their returns are work-life balance, the opportunity to work on interesting projects, with great people, and the culture in general.

Here are their stories:

Reasons people left

“I worked with an incredible team and really enjoyed my role, but I was approached by a content orchestration startup and offered the position of Head of Product. Leaving was a tough decision, but having come from a startup background, I felt I needed to explore this unique opportunity.” - Seb Barre, Manager, Technical Centre of Excellence

“I left to build my own freelance content company as well as pursue opportunities in comedic acting in television and on stage.” - Andrea Marston, Content Manager

“I joined TELUS Digital fairly early in its lifecycle, the team had less than 100 people if I recall correctly. I helped build, maintain, and support a good majority of the network infrastructure. I left for a healthcare company that was doing fascinating things with machine learning in regards to medical data shared between devices such as MRIs and CT scanners.” - Aaron Pederson, Senior Developer Analyst

“I went to be a developer at a startup, change the tech stack a bit.” - Anna Khiger, Senior Developer, MyTELUS

“I left TELUS Digital after the first wave of the pandemic, mainly due to a personal setback my family was going through. We survived on income from a small part-time business I run with my wife.” - Vir Kacha, Security Consultant

“When I left TELUS, I had been working for the company for almost 13 years, 8 of them in a UX role. I had become really interested in Product Design and Product UX and left to work for a small company as their Lead UX Designer.” - Trevor Allen, Design Strategy Lead, Digital Commerce

“I was working as a Scrum master when I left digital and the opportunity I took on was a Project Manager role.” - Rexford Opoku, Scrum Master


How long were you away from Digital before you came back?

“I spent 6 months working at the startup but eventually realized the role was not a good fit for me, and then took a 3 month break before returning to work.” - Seb

“I left the Mobility Team in April 2018 and I started writing for the Brand Resource Centre as a freelance writer in the beginning of 2019 before eventually coming back on a full time basis in April of this year.” - Andrea

“6 months.” - Anna

“I was gone for just over two years.” - Aaron

“I was away from Digital for about 1 year.” - Rexford

What factors did you consider when coming back?

“When I started looking for my next opportunity, TELUS Digital was immediately on my list. After considering a few opportunities, I chose to return to TELUS in 2020 primarily because of the team I would be working with, but also to be able to do challenging work that positively impacts Canadians.” - Seb

“I really enjoyed the working relationship I had already cultivated with the Brand Resource Centre team and I deeply believe in the value of the product. Also, during the pandemic I lost a lot of freelance and performance work and I was craving job stability. As a content writer in Toronto, finding a full time position and not being on rotating contracts is actually super rare. I jumped at the opportunity for stable employment with a team I loved working with on a product that I was very passionate about.” - Andrea

“The biggest factor I considered was whether I would still be useful in whatever position I applied for. The companies I worked for within that 2-year stretch were still in the pseudo start-up phase where everything was theoretical and may require a quick response and learning on-the-go. TELUS by comparison is pretty grounded and established, but it does - just as all other companies do - have places that can be improved and simplified.” - Aaron

“The fact that I'm familiar with the environment, both technical and social. Also, it was relatively easy to be re-hired, since I had recommendations from the people still working at TELUS.” - Anna

“The main reason for choosing TELUS Digital is the culture and work environment. At that point, my wife and I were expecting a child, so work-life balance was among my top priorities. As a result of my past experience with TELUS Digital, I was very confident about the work-life ethics within the team. Not just that, I also took the technical exposure into account for my decision. The technology stack the team works on and the latest cutting-edge platform being leveraged made me feel confident in the direction in which I want to take my career.” - Vir

“Some of the things I considered when coming back were potential changes, new learnings, work environment, personal growth.” - Rexford

“The opportunity at TELUS Digital afforded me an opportunity to mentor other designers, something I really enjoy, as well as work at a strategic level within a critical eCommerce product space: cart and checkout. I had always wanted a unified commerce experience for TELUS customers so they could check out with any TELUS product and service mix they wanted within a single transaction. Also, TELUS Digital is now a really large division and I wanted an opportunity to work within the telecom eComm space at scale.” - Trevor

What does Digital have that other places you've worked don't?

“At TELUS I can do my best work, with opportunities to grow and succeed through collaboration and teamwork that I have not experienced elsewhere. Our real commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming culture makes me proud to be part of this team.” - Seb

“As someone who has often been a lone writer on many teams and projects, the idea of working within a content community really appeals to me. I think what I appreciate most about TELUS is how much we focus on and invest in content which I really believe is the key to enhancing digital experiences and brand identity.” - Andrea

“Well, the first thing that pleasantly surprised me was how many of my old crew were still a part of the team, having moved up or advanced their skillset. But as for the job itself, I would have to say balance. Several places I've worked at in the past still had a very old school mentality in regards to work-life balance, which usually kept you very on guard. After the last two years, it is a welcome relief to have that kind of support.”  - Aaron

“Definitely better work-life balance, compared to the startup I went to.” - Anna

“Amazing culture, true Agile practices, internal Opportunities, great projects, true personal growth” - Rexford

“Digital has a spirit of innovation that is just a bit different than other places I’ve worked at. There is always room and encouragement to experiment and try things out so long as you meet all of your expectations. The calibre of people who work here is also inspiring and makes me strive to always deliver my best. TELUS Digital has managed to make it feel like a family at scale - that’s hard to accomplish.” - Trevor

Our team is growing! To join something awesome, check out our careers page. Follow us on InstagramTwitter, and LinkedIn for more events and updates.

Authored by:
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Heidi Tsao & Teammates
Senior Strategy Manager
Heidi Tsao is a Senior Strategy Manager on TELUS Digital's People Experience Team. Her mission is to help everyone live their best work lives. She likes soup.